WOA: Building peace from common values in isolated communities

This contribution focuses on peacebuilding and resilience enhancing activities in hard-to-reach areas affected by permanent instability in South and North Kivu. The contribution aims to creating local spaces, mechanisms and initiatives for long-lasting peace by strengthening economic empowerment of vulnerable groups through enhancing their means of subsistence including women and youth, as well as strengthening the capacities of local state structures and other local leaders. One critical component of this contribution is to eliminate conditions that motivate youngsters to join or remain in armed groups, for instance by encouraging education of children as a way of providing alternatives to recruitment into armed groups. Thus, communities participation in rehabilitation of schools will be promoted in the affected areas. Other selected critical community infrastructures will be supported (e.g. one to three small hydroelectrical power plants) where feasible. Youth peaceful spaces with libraries with books brought from France, will be initiated and encouraged, providing spaces where training and discussions on peaceful cohabitation as well as various vocational training and entrepreneurship will take place. Local civil society stakeholders will be encouraged to link up with provincial and national levels to strengthen peace and social cohesion through the opening up of their otherwise isolated areas.